Dear me, what a fuss about nothing

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As long as we’re being treated kindly, who would mind being asked: “Would you like a nice cup of tea, dear?”Spencer Grant/Getty Images

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The drinks were on Angela Merkel

Carol Midgley

Last updated at 12:01AM, March 1 2012

If I live to be old, there are some names I’d rather not be called by my
nurses. “Coffin-dodger” is one of them. “Smelly old git” is another. Could
they also try to avoid “wrinklie”, “crumblie”, “bed-blocker” and “miserable
codger”? I’ll just leave that on record. Thanks.

But “dear”? Is that so bad? The Commission on Improving Dignity in Care seems
to think it is. Its
latest report concludes that calling an elderly patient “dear” in
hospital is “patronising”. Well, I can see this might be so if the person
saying it was Michael Winner or David Cameron — especially if